Thursday, 30 May 2024

May 30th 2024

La Bete
Scoop (streaming on Netflix)

Again only a couple of films this week, but quite intriguing offerings. Many of the excellent films I've reviewed in past weeks are still out there in cinemas, so check them out! 
La Bete (The Beast)
Dir: Bertrand Bonnello
Length: 146 mins
Exclusive to Cinema Nova
© Rialto - romance meets an unemotional
AI-ruled world
Gabrielle (Lea Seydoux) lives in a futuristic world (2044) where AI has taken over. Human emotions are a threat to AI and everyone is encouraged to "purify" their DNA so that they can then live equable, unemotional lives, make more rational decisions and get better jobs. This process involves visiting and coming to terms with past lives. When she returns to the early 20th century, Gabrielle is married to Henry who owns a doll factory while she is a pianist. But when she meets Louis (George Mackay) she is drawn to him. A second time attempting the process, she is now a model and meets Louis again in 2014, when he is an embittered man who cannot attract women. In these past and present incarnations Gabrielle is beset by a constant anxiety (the beast?) that something catastrophic is going to happen. This unusual mix of sci-fi and romance is certainly intriguing, though at the start the plot had me quite baffled. Some sections and time periods work better than others, and overall it's probably a bit long. The inventive idea of a 2044 nightclub which can change eras itself is wonderfully recreated in terms of setting, music and costumes. The whole is anchored by a stunning performance from Seydoux, who nails the sensibility of a woman living in each era. The casting of MacKay has me a little puzzled (why a non-native French speaker?), but despite my few reservations this film is likely to capture you enough to have you hanging in till the quite dramatic conclusion. 
3.5 - well recommended

Scoop
Dir: Phillip Martin
Length: 102 mins
Streaming on Netflix
© Netflix - a prince brought down by
some smart women. 
Prince Andrew (Rufus Sewell) will no doubt go down in history as that guy who joined the ranks of men who the #metoo movement showed up for what they are. This film details how a group of female journalists nailed the interview of the decade, which aired on BBC, and was instrumental in getting the Prince to step down from his public duties. Rufus Sewell is nearly unrecognisable in his role as the Prince who publically denied things that had had photograph proof, and who weaselled around the facts of his friendship with reprehensible sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Gillian Anderson and Billie Piper are admirably strong in their roles of newsroom chief Emily Maitlis and dogged journalist, Sam McAlister. The politics and pressure of a newsroom are well depicted, but the real strength of the film lies in just how well it replicated the actual interview (check it out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtBS8COhhhM&t=11s). Whether you are or are not interested in "the royals", this is a well scripted, and finely acted film that shows sometimes no amount of power and privilege can ultimately protect the guilty.
3.5 - well recommended       
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Thursday, 23 May 2024

 May 24th 2024

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Only one film reviewed this week, but what a high-profile, high-octane butt-kicker of a film it is! For closet rev-heads like me it's a delight, but everyone can along along for the ride into one of the most creative and disturbing worlds on the big screen. 

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Dir: George Miller
Length: 148 mins
© Universal - she is revenge and 
fury incarnate. 
The setting is a post-apocalyptic world in which bikie gangs roam the Wasteland in an Australia where lawlessness and dwindling resources are the name of the game. Everyone is competing for bullets, water and gas. In the Green Place, a secret outpost of relative plenty, Furiosa lives with her mother, until the day both are captured and delivered into the hands of crazed bikie warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). From a cute little girl picking peaches, to a ruthless one-armed warrior hell-bent on revenge, Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) is the embodiment of bravery and heroism; definitely not someone you would want to run foul of! In this fabulous prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, is which Charlize Theron played the titular character, we discover what happened to make Furiosa the formidable warrior she is. 
Enough of plot, because to really understand the the minutiae of director Miller's amazing world, I'd need to watch all the Mad Max films several times. This is the fifth film in the series, which began in 1979 and made Mel Gibson a star. For anyone who has never seen the films, I suggest visiting one of countless websites and boning up! But even if you know nothing, there is much to revel in, in this loud, furious, cruel, demented and super-entertaining vision of a self-destructive world. 
Imagination along with memorable characters is the name of the game. Dementus is played as a quasi-Roman emperor, driving his "chariot" pulled by three motor bikes. Hemsworth gives his role a messianic ockerish lunacy. Old favorites like Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme) and the People Eater (John Howard), along with the ghostly war boys all dominate the screen. Tom Burke as Praetorian Jack who initially drives the War Rig is one of the few sympathetic characters. Joy as Furiosa anchors the movie in a role of few words, but with an intensity and fierceness that could melt metal.    
Needless to say special effects, sets and stunts are mind-blowing - the building of the iconic war rig, which Furiosa eventually drives, the variety of weird vehicles cobbled together from junk, the imaginative ways weaponry is used to devastating effect, all the gruesome ways to die! The fortresses of the Wasteland, (Gastown, The Citadel and Bullet Town) feel grimly authentic, and the red deserts around Broken Hill make an incredible setting for all the high-octane, endless engine-throbbing action. 
My one quibble is that it is too long, especially the early scenes of  Furiosa's childhood as prisoner of Dementus. But this doesn't ultimately take too much from a film that adds to the legend and mythology of a frighteningly unforgettable world.
4 - highly recommended
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Thursday, 16 May 2024

May 17th 2024

The Three Musketeers D'Artagnan
IF
Fight to Live
After Death
The Way, My Way

Five films for your delectation this week. Swashbuckling adventure, bare knuckle fighting, near death experiences, trekking the Camino and even a kid's film (of course adults can also relate to this one!) 

The Three Musketeers:  D'Artagnan
Dir: Martin Bourboulon
Length: 121 mins
© Palace - swashbuckling adventure
In 1844 Alexandre Dumas wrote a novel, set in the late 1600s and loosely based upon French history. Catholic King Louis XIII (Louis Garrell) reigns. He is well guarded by his troops, the musketeers, but all around him conspiracies and power plays rage. Catholics and Protestants are itching for war and Cardinal Richelieu (Eric Ruf) holds great power. This iconic story has been made for the screen umpteen times, but I'd wager none so rich and entertaining as this latest version, which opens with young D'Artagnan (Francois Civil) riding in from the countryside hoping to join the King's musketeers. After being shot, left for dead and buried alive, he emerges from his shallow grave and heads for Paris where he is made a cadet musketeer. But not before angering three men who each challenge him to a duel: Aramis (Romain Duris), Athos (Vincent Cassell) and Porthos (Pio Marmai). These men become his loyal brothers-in-arms, the musketeers of the title, and their wild swashbuckling adventures are fast-paced and thrilling. Intertwined subplots abound, each one equally captivating, many revolving around the important women characters, the Queen (Vicky Krieps), an international spy, Milady (Eva Green), and D'Artagnan's love interest Constance (Lyna Khoudri). The musical score, the settings, costumes and the camera work are all mighty impressive, as the action moves through forests, into bustling streets, and sweeps into sumptuous palaces and awe-inspiring abbeys and cathedrals. Many of the settings are in stunning French countryside locations and in the actual buildings, all adding total authenticity. Nail-biting sword and pistol fights are seamlessly choreographed, and complementing all this is an intelligent script that is wonderfully delivered by a superb cast. This is a film to be relished on the big screen, and I can hardly wait for part 2, which is coming soon.  
4.5 - wholeheartedly recommended
For an interesting historical background visit: 

IF
Dir: John Kransinski
Length: 104mins
© Paramount - sweet and touching
Bea (Cailey Fleming) is staying with Grandma (Fiona Shaw) in New York, while her Dad (John Krasinski) is undergoing heart surgery. One evening she witnesses mysterious goings on, and meets Cal (Ryan Reynolds), who lives upstairs and has an entire menagerie of bizarre characters in his life. He explains these are IFs, Imaginary Friends, who have been abandoned after the young kids who created them have grown up. Bea teams up with Cal to try to find new kids who will be able to see and befriend the IFs. It could be easy to sink the boots into a film like this. It is at times overly sentimental, the plot has moments of total illogicality, and it is probably too long for a very young audience. But . . . there is a tenderness and charm to it that brought a tear to my eye.  The magic of its appeal is not only to youngsters, who still have that ability to live in an imaginary world, but it also enables adults to reconnect with their inner child and remember nostalgically those more innocent days, and just how vital an IF could be in one's life. Some of the IFs are a bit crazy (a talking iceblock!?), others more your standard characters like dinosaurs and unicorns. They are all voiced by the most stellar cast including Steve Carrell as Blue, the big purple monster, along with Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, George Clooney, and Louis Gossett Jnr as the delightful aging Teddy Bear. Young Fleming is terrific as Bea, while Alan Kim as Benjamin, a precocious kid in the same hospital as Bea's Dad, is another most appealing human character. The revelation at the end took me quite by surprise, and overall the warm fuzziness the movie left me with makes it a worthwhile family (or even solo) viewing experience. 
3.5 - well recommended

Fight to Live
Dir: Tom Haramis
Length: 104 mins
Limited screenings- google it!

© Screeninc - timely and cofronting
Fresh from the Inner West Film Festival comes this compelling and timely documentary on "Rowdy" Bec Rawlings, a MMA (Mixed Martial ARTS) fighting champion and also a survivor of domestic abuse. The doco traces Bec's life from her childhood in Tasmania, where interviews with Bec's mother reveal she was trouble from the word go, and that getting into this sport had possibly been her salvation. The doco combines a mix of interviews and sequences showing Bec's fighting career. I don't profess to understand the distinction between all these fighting styles, but they are not for the faint hearted. After winning plenty of MMA fights Bec graduated to Bare Knuckle Fighting (ugh!!), and the scenes of this are quite confronting to watch. But more confronting are the interviews in which Bec describes the horrific abuse she sufferd at the hands of husband Don Hyatt, who physically and emotionally abused her. Director Haramis creates plenty of tension and energy, showing Bec's strength and fighting spirit, but also manages to get her to open up and show her vulnerability. Although at times a bit repetitive, it is a most relevant movie, especially given the current situation with domestic abuse of women in Australia. Brave Bec should serve as an inspiration to any women trying to break free from abuse.
3.5 - well recommended

After Death
Dir: Stephen Gray & Chris Radtke
Length: 108  mins

© Heritage Films - science and belief
 - what happens after death?
As a sceptic, I am not the best person to review a film of this nature. However, I must admit the early part had me intrigued, especially as so many renowned surgeons and scientists speak of their experiences with patients who were officially dead and were then revived. Medicos have been stunned that supposedly dead patients, after being revived, report a commonality of experience - feeling out of their bodies looking down on themselves. They also could recount in detail what had happened to them and what doctors said; things they could never have logically known. Later in the doco, interviewees talk about what they experienced in terms of bright light, heaven's gold-lined streets, God, and a feeling of all encompassing love. Some, it seems, ventured to the gates of Hell! At this point it lost me, with the sweeping music and visual interpretations of these experiences taking on an evangelistic, religious fervour aimed at convincing people. Of course it's thought provoking, but there is nothing especially new here, as it preaches to the converted. Such  religious propaganda in the guise of scientific research would have been better served with a more balanced approach.
2.5 - maybe

The Way, My Way
Dir: Bill Bennett
Length: 98  mins

© Maslow Entertainment - keep walking!  
Here's yet another story of trekking the Camino de Santiago, but this one feels quite different from previous Camino films I've seen. Far less dry, and much more moving.  Adapted from Bennett's own memoir, he uses only four professional actors to play the roles. One is veteran Aussie actor Chris Heywood playing Bill. He brings a recognisable Aussie laconicness to the role, but also manages to expose his vulnerable core as his trek proceeds. Most of the other characters are actual people who Bennett met when he made the trek, playing themselves, and speaking authentically from the heart.  Bennett's wife Jennifer Cluff also appears as herself, so it makes the audience feel as if they are actually spending time with these people. The meaningful conversations these strangers all share, the way they greet and help each other is a life lesson in itself, and the various reasons each has for trekking (self forgiveness, dealing with illness etc) are things most can relate to. The scenery, including quaint French and Spanish villages, is of course gorgeous, and the beautiful soundtrack complements everything, used sparingly but to great effect. This film is a true delight. I hope it gets a wide audience.
4 - highly recommended
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Thursday, 9 May 2024

May 10th 2024

Housekeeping for Beginners
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Monster
HSBC German Film Festival

From blockbuster big screen adventure, to small intimate stories from Macedonia and Japan, along with the latest German Film Festival, here's another week of huge choice for lucky film-goers. 
 
Housekeeping for Beginners
Dir: Goran Stolevski
Length: 107 mins

© Maslow Entertainment - family can be
what you make it
Dita (Anamaria Marinca) owns an old house in Skopje, Macedonia. She shares it with a motley crew of characters: several gay women, her lover Suada (Alina Serban), Suada's two kids, teenage Vanessa (Mia Mustafi), and younger cheeky Mia (Dzada Selim), her old friend Toni (Vladimir Tintor), and Ali (Samson Selim), a recent young lover Toni has brought home. The place is a refuge for outsiders in a country that is not supportive of homosexuality. When Suada is diagnosed with a terminal illness, she makes Dita, who has never wanted to be a mother, reluctantly promise to look after the children. Yes, this theme of "not the family you're born with, but the one you create" is not new, but Stolevski approaches it with an innovative narrative, that includes the LGBTQI community, political corruption and crime, but and more importantly issues of the Roma (gypsy) population, and how they are marginalised in Eastern European countries. Suada and Ali are Roma people, and the stark contrasts between life in Skopje and in the Roma-run municipality of Shutka are eye opening. The characters are all beautifully realised; the mischief of Mia and the rebellion of Vanessa, Toni's pretense at being straight, Dita's juggle living between her "white world" and that of the Roma people she has befriended, and best of all the heartfelt compassion that Ali exudes, as he of all of them seems to be a natural parent, despite his blatant gayness. Macedonian-born, Aussie raised Stolevski makes everything about this film so authentic, and it is such an emotionally beautiful story that is the deserving winner of many awards, including the Queer Lion at the Venice Film Festival. 
4 - highly recommended

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Dir: Wes Ball
Length: 145 mins

© Disney - gentle Noa faces big
challenges as a cruel king reigns
Generations after War for the Planet of the Apes, (the third film in the rebooted trilogy) life has changed. A virus has almost wiped out humans, and of those left, most can no longer speak. The apes however can. King of the apes, the cruel Proximus Caesar, has perverted the teachings of the original leader Caesar, and uses them to oppress other ape clans. Noa (Owen Teague), a member of a peaceful clan which raise eagles, teams up with a human, Mae (Freya Allan), and together they challenge the prevailing order of things. No-one can take away from the amazing special effects in this film. The CGI motion capture is splendid, as are the settings. The opening sequences where Noa and family climb vertiginous heights to collect eagles' eggs for their breeding program are beautifully executed. But the film is overly long; taking its time to rev up and really get going. The battle scenes of aggro gorillas on horseback hunting down other apes along with vulnerable humans drinking at a pond with zebras are typically bombastic and detract from the deeper story. When we come to the nitty-gritty of the megalomaniac king and his enslaved tribes, it then starts to feel like a credible commentary upon power and oppression (rather like watching the nightly news!). The wise old orangutan Raka (Peter Macon) comes across as somewhat of a trope, and not a lot feels original. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it as a big screen impressive experience, especially those expressive eyes and wonderful simian faces, but I can't go bananas for it! 
3 - recommended

Monster
Dir: Kore-eda Kirohazu
Length: 127 mins

© Madman - intriguingly ambiguous
story of friendship and getting to the truth

Single mother Saori Mugino (Sakura Ando) gets wind that her son Minato (Soya Kurokawa) is deeply disturbed by something happening at school. It emerges that teacher Mr Hori (Eita Nagayama) has possibly been persecuting him, even physically violent. Her complaints are met by blank-faced resistance from Hori and school principal Makiko Fushimi (Yuko Tanaka). Minato has a close friend at school, Yori (Hinata Hiiragi), and that friendship becomes a refuge, but also disturbing in its own way, as other kids pick on them. Here's where the film gets really interesting. In the first part we see the situation from the mother's viewpoint. In the second we see the same scenario played out, but this time from the viewpoint of Hori and the principal. Pieces of the jigsaw start to fall into place. All is not as it seemed. Then in the final third we see more deeply into the lives of the boys, how it was for them, as they shelter from a storm in an old abandoned rail carriage that has become a secret haven for them. Everything is open to possibly differing interpretation, especially the very end of the film. Director Kore-eda has a wonderful skill in directing stories about kids (I Wish, Like Father, Like son, Our Little Sister, Broker), and this is no exception. The two young lead actors shine, the score by recently deceased composer Ryuichi Sakamoto is haunting, and wins at Cannes for Best Screenplay and Queer Palm are well deserved. 
4 - highly recommended 

HSBC German Film Festival
Melbourne 10-29 May
For other states, film synopses, bookings etc visit: 
This year the festival includes top German films from the last 70 years of German cinema, along with six latest releases from the Berlinale, a children's sidebar and a Werner Herzog restrospective. 

Lubo: Lubo (Franz Rogowski)  belongs to the Jenisch community, one of several groups of gypsies wandering Switzerland. Before the outbreak of the second world war he is co-opted into the army to defend the borders. Subsequently he learns that his wife died and his three children were taken away by the authorities as part of a persecution campaign to "re-educate" nomadic kids. Over the course of decades Lubo tries desperately to discover what happened to his family. Despite being a powerful narrative, this sweeping three-hour epic from Switzerland is probably too long, and I have a huge gripe that nothing was done to age the actor. However,  cinematography and period settings are splendid, and Rogowski's fine lead performance firmly anchors the story with a poignancy and steely determination that is palpable, no doubt helping its nomination for a Best Film Golden Lion. 
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Wednesday, 1 May 2024

May 2nd 2024

All of Us Strangers  (streaming on Disney+)
The Taste of Things
The Road to Patagonia
Fremont
Golda
Macbeth: National Theatre Live 

I'm leading off this week with a streaming film, as it blew me away and I can't get it out of my head! Then there are five more cinema releases to choose from, with my pick being a French foodie film that will have you salivating with hunger. 
 
All of Us Strangers
Dir: Andrew Haigh
Length: 105 mins
Streaming on Disney+
© Searchlight/Disney+ - cuts to the
heart of human longing for acceptance
Adam (Andrew Scott), a screenwriter, lives a lonely life in a London highrise building. One evening his neighbour Harry (Paul Mescal) knocks on the door, drunk and dishevelled, offering to share a drink and maybe something more. Adam rebuffs Harry, but when they meet again, the pair connect and a tentative but sweet romance starts. Adam goes to visit his parents Mum (Claire Foy) and Dad (Jamie Bell), but he has already told Harry that they were killed in an accident when he was twelve. Adam comes out to his mother, who seems stuck in old fashioned attitudes about being gay, AIDS, and expectations of her son marrying and having kids. I'm telling you nothing more plotwise, because it is at this point that we start to wonder what in this film is real, what is imagined, and whether perhaps ghosts exist. What is real is the depth of the emotion and grief that Adam pours out - his insecurities as a young gay child, his feelings of neglect and isolation, his longing for love and understanding. Scott, with his soulful eyes and beautiful face gives a searing performance that ripped my heart out, as he reenacts what so many of us would like to do - revisit our past, say the things we wanted to, rekindle family, love and connection. Many of the dream sequences play with time, as Adam grapples his tormented emotions, but everything flows seamlesslessly in and out of past and present. The chemistry between the two men is at once sensual, tender and  scorchingly sexual - lovingly shot in a way that makes us all long for a relationship just like that, regardless of our sexual orientation. The conversations they have, in which they reveal their deepest vulnerabilties, are achingly real.  Harry's story presents us with quite a mystery at the end, and ultimately is open to interpretation by the viewer, but however you choose to decipher the what of the story, the why is just so clear - we all need love, safety, acceptance and belonging. This is an exquisite film that I need to see once more.
5 - unmissable

The Taste of Things
Dir: Anh Hung Tran
Length: 135 mins
© Rialto - luscious, lovely, lingering.
don't see it on an empty stomach! 
Dodin Bouffant (Benoit Magimel) is a renowned gourmet living in Paris at the end of the 1800s. His chef Eugenie (Juliette Binoche) has been cooking for him for more than 20 years and their relationship has become something more - an occasional romantic assignation, but despite Dodin wanting to marry her, she treasures her independence. Perhaps if he cooks for her, she will relent. I know we can become blase about foodie films, but this one is another notch above. It is set in a time in France when such proponents of haute cuisine as Escoffier, were making their mark. The exquisitely-realised story somehow combines everything that is sensual about food, love, nature, veggie gardens, and the joy of preparing from the heart a dish so perfect it is almost beyond words. The first half hour of the film is spent in silence as Dodin and Eugenie potter in the kitchen together. The rhythm is languid yet purposeful. Every scene is this film is visually divine, and you can almost taste the delights being conjured up. In fact, every dish was prepared from go to woe with top chefs supervising!  There are a couple of subplots, but it is the food that is the major star, along with the gentleness of the love story. This sublimely mouth-watering film can happily take its place in the pantheon of the best foodie films out.
4 - wholeheartedly recommended

The Road to Patagonia
Dir: Matty Hannon
Length: 90 mins
©  Garage/Madman - an adventure that
is inspiring and a love song to planet Earth 
Billed as a series of love letters, (director and his gal, director and planet Earth), this doco can be many things to many people. Firstly it is an adventure story, as Matty begins his odyssey by heading from Australia to the Mentawai islands, Indonesia, for five years. He is captivated by the relationship of the indigenous people to their environment, but eventually he returns to office life in the city, and depression sets in. So he decides on a bigger adventure - to surf the coast of the Americas from Alaska down to Patagonia, the tip of South America. On the way he meets environmentally-aware Heather, and romance takes centre stage along with their gruelling but uplifting journey. Together they set out on motorbikes, but then swap them for horses. Heather, Matty (and their much-loved animals) are together 24/7 for well over a year as they trek, struggle, marvel, and meet some amazing people, from rebels to tribal folk. Visually this film is a treat, from the majestic Andean mountains to the thundering waves they surf. And it is of course a love song to the planet and a plea for living more in harmony with our environment. At times it feels a little disjointed; apparently the overall filming process took 16 years, so there is a huge variety of content and time frames, but it's inspiring to see such commitment and to share in this journey.
3 - recommended

Fremont
Dir: Babak Jalali
Length: 91 mins

© Low key and sweet story of
finding a new life
Donya (Anaita Wali Zada) is a former translator for the US Army in Afghanistan. Now she's a refugee living in Fremont, California. She leads a relatively isolated life, relating only to Aziz, who runs a middle eastern resturant, and to her co-workers at a fortune cookie factory. Suffering insomnia she visits an unusual and eccentric  therapist, Dr Anthony (Gregg Turkington), who suggests she is suffering from survivors' guilt. Aziz and neighbor Salim encourage Donya to start dating, so impulsively one day on the assembly line she puts her phone number inside a fortune cookie. This is a modest film, but with weighty themes, shot in black and white and remniscent of some of Jim Jarmusch's work. It's a movie that gets stronger as it moves along, being a bit slow to get going. But when it does fire up, about half way through, it has a sweetness and a low-key comedic poignancy, even if it feels a bit contrived at moments. It's a delight to see the star of The Bear, Jeremy Allen White, in a fine role as a kind-hearted mechanic somewhere in the woop-woops of California.
3.5 - well recommended

Golda
Dir: Guy Nativ 
Length: 100 mins
© Transmission - a nearly unrecognizable
Helen Mirren is the Israeli "Iron Lady" 
In 1973, on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, Israel discovered it was under atttack by combined Egyptian and Syrian forces. The fighting raged for almost three weeks until a ceasefire was finally declared. Then Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir was faced with critical decisions that could determine the fate of not only her country but also millions of lives. One of Britain's greatest actresses Helen Mirren is almost unrecognisable as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. There is absolutely no denying she inhabits her role, even if it does mean chain smoking throughout! But, (and this could be my being a politico-history klutz), I found myself not totally engaging in the narrative of the story; something seemed too impersonal and more like a history lesson rather than an in-depth look at the woman herself, which is what I imagined the film would be. Mirren is ably supported by Liev Schreiber as Kissinger and Camille Cottin as Golda's personal assistant. Whatever my reservations about the film, it's worth it for Mirren alone (as always). 
3 - recommended

Macbeth
Dir: Simon Godwin 
Length: 156 mins
© Sharmill - minimalist staging, 
top shelf acting 

Shakespeare seems immortal and is constantly being adapted for modern audiences. More than 10 films of Macbeth have been made and now we have the version of the National Theatre production filmed in London. As with several other modern Shakespearian adaptations, this one, embraces the garb of a contemporary battlefield with Scottish lords and kings decked out in army fatigues that evoke the many wars in today’s world. The three witches take a modern turn with their shredded jeans and Doc Martin boots with other characters, dressed in modern suits or dresses. The staging is spare, with the castle’s interior feeling a bit like a modern minimalistic home. Though I always have immense trouble following Shakespeare’s language, Ralph Fiennes delivers his lines with trademark crispiness and clarity as his Macbeth travels an arc from bullied husband to monstrous murderous megalomaniac, though I’m not sure the touches of physical humor he injects actually work. Indira Varma almost outshines Fiennes as Lady Macbeth the power hungry wife who eventually regrets what she has unleashed and descends into madness. Notable also is Ben Turner as Macduff. My not being a Shakespeare buff really does not qualify me to prognosticate upon this production, but I found myself progressively engaged, and absorbed with this classic tale.
3.5 - well recommended






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